Once we found out that MM was getting ready to leave, everyone started preparing to head to the airport. Ed and I immediately bolted there, took the train and arrived before pretty much everyone else. It took us a bit to figure out where MM would be leaving from (they always fly with JAL, so we just had to find the JAL departures terminal...but CDG is a pretty big airport so we wandered for quite a bit before finding it)...and then, once we figured that out, we took a seat at a little eating area nearby and...waited haha
This was actually a pretty funny moment, cause I was there, a very very white dude, with my Momusu shirt and yellow pants, yellow shoes, holding a yellow shirt and headband...every Japanese person anywhere nearby was staring at me (and we were in the Japanese airlines terminal, so there were a LOT of Japanese people lol). Ed tweeted about it, something like "Sitting at CDG with cfb in his yellow pajama pants. Every Japanese person in the JAL line is staring at us -___-" :P
Anyway, soon other people started showing up, including Carlos along with all the Japanese fans. I was pretty proud of Ed and I for getting there before them (they're the first ones to EVERYTHING, seriously o.o)...but Carlos was just like "you didn't need to rush THAT much"...lol
And everyone just kind of stood around and waited, not much else we could do obviously haha
Photo 1
At some point here I went to buy kleenexes...by now I had a cold (getting next to no sleep, spending nights outside, sprinting full-speed between events when you normally get no exercise at all, etc will do that to you :P) and needed them pretty bad haha
In a nearby convenience store (the window to which you can see over on the right in the picture above), I grabbed like 3 little portable kleenex packs...and at the counter the guy motioned me over to another area of the store and showed me that a big pack of 6 of those was only a bit more than the three I had...so picked up those. As far as I'm aware, he didn't speak any English...more randomly nice people ;_____;
Back out with everyone else, more waiting...and soon, one of the Japanese fans who had been watching his phone the entire time suddenly jumped up and announced that MM had arrived, eyes still glued to his phone (I guess he must have had someone posted to let him know when they entered the airport? Or something? Who knows haha). Everyone quickly walked over to the line we knew the girls would be going through and spread out, then more waiting...quite a bit of waiting, actually, since they had to get their boarding passes and check luggage, etc.
Then, eventually, the girls walked up!
Video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUljhE3scQo (credit to Paul Thomas for the video)
I was a little behind and to the left of the cameraman, I think.
In that video, from maybe...1:30 or so? Is basically how it went the entire time MM was in line. Everyone stood there quietly, hanging around as the girls slowly worked their way through the line...every now and then one of the members would wave at us, and we'd all wave back. This went on for maybe 30-45 minutes? The line was long and moved pretty slow haha
This whole thing was actually very sweet, everyone saying their goodbyes and giving the members a nice calm send-off. It was a good contrast to the frenetic pace of the rest of the group's time in Paris. Bittersweet to see them leave, but still a great way to end our time with the group ^^
Photo 2
Aichan looked SUPER cute here...little hat, striped dress and all black chucks (CHUCKS! She's amazing ;____;). Eventually she pulled out a pair of glasses she bought while in Paris and put them on - pink frames, with 'PARIS' printed in pink across one lense...dorky, but adorable~
Saw Aichan and Risa take a quick picture here, after Aichan put on the Paris glasses, for Risa's blog I would assume (although I kept an eye out for a pic like this on her blog but never saw it O.o Risa must have never posted it...). Risa handed her phone to one of the managers and she made a kissy face right by Aichan's cheek as Aichan struck a pose lol...cute~
Got several more waves from Aichan during this time, at this point she obviously knew who I was and any interaction between us felt quite a bit more personal than earlier on in the convention. So amazing to think that I actually made a real connection with her ;________;
Right near the end, as Aichan was rounding the last corner of the line before walking through the gate, she kind of peeked out and waved at everybody, then leaned back in line...then she hopped out again and waved (I'm 90% sure) straight at me o.o
So, of course, I waved back, and as she hopped back in line I yelled out in Japanese, "Have a safe trip back!" ("ki wo tsukete kaette ne~!") and I heard a faint "haiiiiiii~!" (basically, "okayy~!" or "I will~!") from up where she was, then she walked through the gate...and she was the final member to leave, so that was the last we saw of Momusu ;____________________________________________________;
After that, everyone regrouped...we thought about going out somewhere in Paris for dinner (Natsugaya offered to figure out a place for us, and I'm pretty sure he had one in mind already actually), discussed it for quite a bit actually but decided against it because everyone was just way too tired. Personally I could have gone, and wanted to, but majority rules :P
Instead...we went to McDonald's in the airport. Again. -___- lol (I didn't really care that much, but it's hilarious that we were in one of the food capitals of the world and ate almost nothing but Mickey D's...then again, we were all on skeleton budgets, so... :P)
I don't even remember what I got...a couple burgers or something...but the second I finished my food, as everyone sat and talked, I literally collapsed, asleep, on the table. Anyone who knows me is aware that I don't "do" naps, but now that MM was gone my drive to continue pushing (beyond what I really should have been capable of, honestly) was also gone, and my body just shut off...
Eventually the guys shook me awake so we could all leave, and we began the (always unnecessarily long :/ ) process of heading back to the hotel from the airport.
After too much wandering around, we ended up back at the taxi/bus/etc roundabout for people with hotels and took a seat on the curb to wait for our bus to show up. After a while...all of sudden, up walked Gamushara Ouendan! :O (guess they were on their way back too ^^)
When I realized who it was, at first I gave them a quick nod, and they nodded back...then I said a quick friendly "OSU!" haha...and they all lit up lol, Carlos and Steve joined in as everyone exchanged "OSU!"s back and forth~
Carlos, Steve and I (Ed and Jim had to have been there too...I think...but I don't remember them being there...I dunno, I was so tired I'm amazed I even remember what happened at all :P) spoke with them for a good few minutes (in Japanese again ^^)...Carlos honestly did most of the talking though. They saw our Momusu shirts and we talked about MM for a bit, guess they're fans as well (not surprising, since they were doing MM ouendan chants, etc on stage before MM's Q&A event :P).
Talked about how we came specifically to support MM (support - in Japanese, 'ouen' - 'ouendan'...an appropriate topic, to say the least :P) from different places in the world, and they reacted pretty enthusiastically. Carlos showed them his Aichan gear, which REALLY impressed them as it resembled the kind of thing an ouendan member would wear. Carlos' outfit had a pretty lengthy passage - possibly a quote, although I'm not sure from where - also printed on the back of his outfit, further declaring his support for Aichan (that kind of thing is also common on ouendan gear, from what I understand)...they asked him if he chose that himself, and I guess some Japanese friends helped him out with that.
I showed them my Aichan gear as well, and one of the Gamushara Ouendan guys went "looks like she's pretty popular" haha (which she is, actually...one of the most popular members of Momusu, if not THE most popular :P)
Soon enough our hotel bus showed up, and we gave them a quick farewell "OSU!" as we parted ways lol
Once on the bus, Carlos, Steve and I gave them a quick "OSU!" motion from our seats, and they gave a quick ouendan salute as we drove off hahaha...quite a nice way to end our time at the airport that day :D
Back at the hotel, we went up to our room and took it easy for the night. After an hour or two, Steve and Carlos decided to go down and grab some food from the vending machine in the lobby...they asked if I wanted anything, and I told them to just grab me something without tomatoes.
However, by the time they came back upstairs I had apparently already fallen asleep. And I mean, OUT. COLD. Carlos and Steve told me the next morning that they came back up and offered me the food they'd grabbed (had already heated it up for me even, apparently ;___;) and I just sleepily mumbled "mmhghhh...puddid overthheurr...ahll eeddid laydur..." ("put it over there, I'll eat it later") and continued to lay there. I think I ended up sleeping for like 12 hours? And I was DEAD asleep the whole time. Again, my body literally just shut off once I no longer had a reason to continue pushing myself...
Continued in the next post...
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